


dreams of kings and queens

by sunnithesunflower



Series: The Ever-growing Book Of Merthur [4]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Court Sorcerer Merlin (Merlin), Dreams and Nightmares, Episode: s03e10 Queen of Hearts, Episode: s05e08 The Hollow Queen, Evil Morgana (Merlin), F/M, Future Visions, Gen, Gwen Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Hurt/Comfort, I'm making her come back tho, Idiots in Love, Immortal Merlin (Merlin), Just Joking, King Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Love Confessions, M/M, Matchmaker!Gwen at your service :)), Merlin's Magic Revealed (Merlin), Minor Gwen/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Miscommunication, Oblivious Merlin (Merlin), Prince Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Smitten Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), The Gwen & Arthur friendship we all needed, Uther is an asshole but he's kinda tolerable and more lenient in here, Uther is annoying but he kind of low-key ships it, Why?, a good helping of fluff (you know i cant help myself okay), a look into arthur's head is always interesting, arthur doesn't know how to deal with feelings so gwen helps out, arthur is an unorganized hopelessly in love mess and im here for it, because i like it, but shes like "what a cute relationship... i guess i better ruin it now ahahah", canon AU, episode AU, eventual merthur - Freeform, i desperately need a beta reader..., i like writing relationship growth between characters kind of a lot, i mash up a lot of episodes together because i kinda like some of the things that happened in them, i think i'll try posting a new chapter every two weeks, im really invested in this no joke like i am genuinely proud of this, inconsistent updates, morgana lowkey ships merlin and arthur lmao, most of the time its morgana pov, no beta we die like mary collins, platonic romanticism, plot? never heard of her, practically everyone ships it, she ran away for a bit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:46:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27324466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnithesunflower/pseuds/sunnithesunflower
Summary: "By the sacred laws vested in me, I pronounce you, Guinevere, Queen of Camelot."The crown is placed onto brunette curls. Music surges. Morgana screams.Gwen takes Arthur's hand and slowly gets up, walking up the small stairs to the two thrones. The pair change hands and intertwine fingers. They stand in front of the throne room, looking at all the people. Morgana feels sick. Gwen smiles.Morgana wakes up.~~~Set in series 3 episode 10.Morgana has nightmares. But not any particular nightmares, no, these are nightmares of Gwen taking her place on the throne as Camelot's queen and she despises them. But she's confused. The dreams have changed. They now include flashes and flickers of someone taking Gwen's place at the throne. As the dreams clear, and the flashes become more permanent she sees it's Merlin. Merlin takes her throne. Merlin stands next to Arthur, a crown on his head. But that can't be right, Morgana thinks, wasn't Arthur courting Gwen? In secret, at least. What did all of these mean? Surely, this couldn't be the future? Whatever it was, Morgana was going to do something about it. Reveal Gwen and Arthur's secret courtship, maybe?
Relationships: Gwen & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Gwen & Merlin (Merlin), Gwen/Lancelot (Merlin), Lancelot & Merlin (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Morgana & Morgause (Merlin), Morgana & Uther Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: The Ever-growing Book Of Merthur [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1916428
Comments: 19
Kudos: 100





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> me? posting more than 2 times in a week? its a miracle.

_The heavenly voices of the choir rang in the air as the doors to the throne room open. The scenery is majestic and beautiful with red and gold painted across the castle. Light shines through glass panels, creating a kaleidoscope of colours. Morgana watches in disgust and horror._ _She sees Guinevere, of all people, walking down the aisle in a rich purple dress, fit for a queen. As the brunette makes her way to the front of the throne room, Morgana gasps and her eyes widen in rage._

 _Arthur stands in front of the two thrones, light bouncing off the golden crown, looking regal as ever. Morgana feels as if she could choke on her own vomit. The throne was hers._ **_Hers._ ** _She couldn't stand anyone else in it. Especially not the son of Uther Pendragon. The King holds his hand out and Morgana frowns._

 _No… it couldn't be. Not even_ **_her_ ** _idiot of a step-brother would do that. Or maybe he was more stupid then she thought._

* * *

**_"I want to marry for love."_ **

_Morgana scoffs at the memory of the secret conversation she had with her step-brother so long ago._

* * *

_She turns her focus back to Gwen, and lets out a shriek of rage when the former maidservant goes to her knees onto a cushion and Arthur is holding a crown._ **_Her crown._ **

_"By the sacred laws vested in me, I pronounce you, Guinevere, Queen of Camelot."_

_The crown is placed onto brunette curls. Music surges. Morgana screams._

_Gwen takes Arthur's hand and slowly gets up, walking up the small stairs to the two thrones. The pair change hands and intertwine fingers. They stand in front of the throne room, looking at all the people. Morgana feels sick. Gwen smiles._

_Morgana wakes up._

Gasping for breath, Morgana jolts from her bed as if she was struck by lightning. Her heart beats in her chest as she looks around her chambers. It's dark.

Instinctively, her hand goes to her bracelet-the one that was supposed to keep bad dreams at bay. She traces her fingers over the metal, unnerved. The dark haired ward goes to her window, staring through the pristine glass and metal. All is quiet. 

"Is everything alright, my lady?"

Morgana turns, seeing her maidservant holding a candle. She wears a purple dress, similar to one in her nightmare and Morgana inwardly shudders. "I'm fine." She answers, obviously lying. Of course she isn't fine. She just saw her servant take her throne. "It's late. You should go to bed." She continues, looking back at the window.

Gwen smiles. It reminds the ward of that sickeningly sweet smile that she gave Arthur in that nightmare. "Good night."

Gwen turns, candle still in hand as she starts to go. "Good night, Gwen." Morgana stares at her as she leaves, the sound of her footsteps echoing through the chamber and hallways. The door locks behind her.

* * *

The nightmares continued after that. Morgana hated them. It was odd though, the dreams had started to change, slightly. Sometimes she swore she flashes of Merlin taking Guinevere's place. It made her confused and scared. She was already dealing with one servant taking her place on the throne, she couldn't deal with another. However, Morgana knew that the flashes and changes in her dreams meant that the future was uncertain. Where at first the nightmare had been as clear as day, they were now cloudy and muted, with Merlin taking Guinevere's place more often than not. _That_ was particularly confusing.

Morgana tells Morgause about the dreams in their next meeting.

"I received your message. Tell me about these dreams that are so troubling to you."

“It's odd, sister. It changes. At first they show a ceremony in Camelot. It's my serving girl, Gwen, she sits beside Arthur on a throne. She's crowned queen. I see the same thing night after night.” Morgana pauses to take a breath. “But that’s not all. Recently, Arthur’s manservant, Merlin, has taken her place. It used to be flashes but now Merlin often replaces Gwen in the ceremony, crowned as just Gwen was, as he stands beside Arthur.” Morgana bites her lip worriedly, annoyance running through her veins. ”What do you think this means, sister?”

“There are some dreams that are so powerful your healing bracelet will not stop them. It is a prophecy.”

"How can this be? They are servants, Uther would never allow Arthur to marry either of them. _Especially not Merlin."_

"There are many futures, Sister. Some are shrouded in mist, and others are clear as cut glass. But your gift is powerful, and this vision cannot be ignored. You cannot allow this serving girl or Arthur’s manservant to take your rightful place upon the throne. Whatever relationship exists between Arthur and Gwen, you must destroy it. I say the same for the boy. Whatever relationship exists between the two, it **_must_ ** be broken.”

"But there are two dreams. How do I know which one is the future?"

"The future is fickle, my sister. There isn’t a way to tell. You must deal with both of them."

“I will not fail you. It will be easy to reveal the secret courtship between my maidservant and Arthur. They do **_not_ **know the meaning of subtle. As for Merlin? That will be simple enough, he is but a servant after all.”

Morgause nods approvingly. Morgana smirks before giving the blonde a hug and leaving.

* * *

Soon enough, Morgana had planted the seeds of her plan in place. After breakfast—which had not gone the way she had expected _at all_ —she suggests Arthur to spend time with Gwen, maybe share a picnic together without letting Uther know of their time together. It had been a little harder than what Morgana thought it would be, if she was being honest. Arthur had come up with at least seven excuses on why not to go, a frown gracing his features. It almost seemed like he didn't _want_ to go at all. However, he eventually caved, bringing her relief. She knew that they had gone deep in the forest outside Camelot, where they thought they wouldn't be found. _Fools._ Morgana laughs to herself, an evil smirk making its way on her face. Now, she had to convince the King to go on a ride in the forest. She knew he wouldn't refuse.

Convincing Uther to go on a ride with her had been easier than taking candy from a baby. He would do practically anything for her, all she had to do was ask. 

* * *

“I'm glad you persuaded me to come. We must do this again.” Uther says, a rare smile on his face. It made Morgana want to throw him off the damn horse.

“I'd like that very much. Come on, I'll race you.” Morgana disguises the disgust and hatred in her voice under a layer of fondness and enthusiasm, placing a fake smile on her face.

* * *

Arthur feels… uncomfortable. He likes this, he really does, he _likes_ spending time with Gwen, but that's all it ever seems to be. He's confused and worried and has no idea how to approach the mess of emotions in his head. He honestly doesn't know what to do and that scares him a little. Shifting on the pillows, he tries to make his discomfort go unnoticed. And fails miserably. 

"What is it?" Gwen asks, staring at the blond.

"Nothing." The Crown Prince forces himself to relax, a fake smile on his lips.

Gwen sighs, as she leans in, stealing a kiss. Arthur kisses her back, but… it feels wrong. It's not like the other times they've kissed and it just feels… wrong. Like he's making a mistake or hurting someone.

Gwen pulls away. "Arthur. I know what you're doing, and forgive me for saying this but you're an absolute idiot."

Arthur blinks. "Excuse me?"

The brunette pokes his cheek. "You don't love me, not anymore anyways." She continues to poke his cheek after every word. "Romantically, I mean."

The blond splutters, unable to create a coherent sentence.

Gwen chuckles fondly. "You can't hide anything from me. Also, you're really not subtle."

"What are you insinuating?"

"That you are no longer interested in me and that's okay. If I'm being fair, I never really thought you were the _one_ for me either." Gwen plops a grape in her mouth and chews its satisfactorily.

Arthur thought he'd be more insulted by the fact and instead he feels relieved, like a massive weight has been lifted off his shoulders, making it a little easier to breathe.

"I don't want you to take that the wrong way though, I mean, you're great, don't get me wrong. But… my heart has always belonged to Lancelot and I can't help it." Gwen says, when Arthur doesn't reply.

"I think you're right." He states slowly as he processes the information.

Gwen smiles. "That's better."

The prince leans back on the cushions, looking up at the clear blue sky above that slightly reminded him of a certain dark haired, neckerchief wearing servant.

"It's Merlin, isn't it?"

"What?"

"Who you have feelings for." Gwen eats another grape. "It's Merlin."

Arthur chokes. "No! No, it isn't!" He feels his face heat up and before the serving girl can get another word in, he shoves his face into the pillow, obscuring his face. 

The brunette gives him a look. “Uh huh.”

Arthur scowls lightly, an internal war raging in his mind at Gwen’s words. He knows she’s right. However, before the blond prince gets a chance to respond, the sound of hooves hitting the dirt resound through the forest.

_Shit._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgana's dreams change again, but at least she's uncovered the secret courtship between Guinevere and Arthur. It confuses her though, Arthur spends more time staring at Merlin than acting as a lovesick fool to her maidservant. If anything, he was acting as a lovesick fool towards _Merlin_ instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have decided to continue this!! (the fact that i say this like i just decided recently is hilariously wrong. ive just been working on this chapter for ages. i decided to continue this weeks ago lmao) Sorry for the late update, ive been busy with filming performances and writing a heck ton of essays (which, sadly, i have not finished) Huge thanks and shoutouts to **So_Clever_I_Dont_Know_April** and **Judes01** who gave me some awesome feedback and ideas as well as kick starting my brain into gear and really just making me excited and happy to continue and explore this story more. And thank you to all of you who commented on the first chapter!! you were all very sweet and I appreciate it so much, it really kept me going :))
> 
> extra: I split this chapter up into two parts because my brain would not cooperate and let me write the last 5-7 paragraphs for this chapter so instead those will just happen in the next chapter I suppose. That means the next one will be considerably shorter but also full of fluff. Also, I may have gotten a little caught up in writing Gwen and Arthur's friendship (something the show did not give us much of because they used gwen as a love interest for arthur when instead she really should have been with either lancelot or morgana. just imagine their friendship though, it would have been so wholesome. Which is why I've probably latched onto it and wrote a bunch in this story. But just imagine the powers they could have had as besties.) So I hope that was written well and that you enjoyed it :) sorry for the wait! (and the really long notes)

_Merlin in regal blue robes. Merlin holding Arthur's hand. Merlin being_ **_crowned_** _._

Morgana jolts out of her thoughts of her most recent dream. She hears Uther’s shouting Arthur’s name as the King sets his eye on her maidservant and the Crown Prince. Shaking her head to remove her thoughts, she looks at the two. _Caught red handed._ A secret smirk graces her features. Everything would be fine. She would not fail Morgause, Morgana thinks before the clatter of hooves against the forest floor rings out and she rides back to Camelot.

* * *

Arthur paces. Nervous, frantic energy is swirling around him like a tornado.

The King of Camelot simply laughs. It doesn't sound genuine. Well, of course it wouldn’t. Arthur barely hears him laugh. He knows this isn’t one filled with mirth and joy. He blinks, snapping to attention as his father slaps his shoulder with glee. A confused look is written all over the blond’s face. Wasn’t Uther supposed to be angry, or furious even? 

“I… I thought you’d be furious.” 

Uther’s smile doesn’t reach his cold eyes. “I was young once, I'm more than familiar with the temptations of serving girls.”

The Crown Prince frowns at the mental image, spluttering while a bright flush makes its way on his face. “Father, I don’t know what you think we were doing but I assure you, I am definitely not interested in Guinevere.”

Uther raises an eyebrow, amused and wanting to know more. “Why not? It certainly seemed like it with the oh-so secret picnic and romantic scenery.”

“I have reasons.” Those reasons being that he had no idea _what_ he was feeling. He liked Gwen, of course he did, she was smart, funny and absolutely beautiful but it wasn’t her name that always brought a smile to his face, it wasn’t her eyes that he thought about every late night and neither was it her touch on his skin that made his breath hitch everytime. No, no, it wasn’t her at all.

Uther harrumphs, narrowing his eyes down at his son. "Alright then, I'll let this pass. However, if I catch you both together again, I _will_ banish her under the pain of death, do you understand?"

"Uh.. yes, Father. Thank you, my lord." The blond said, gulping as he walked out of the throne room, shaken. _Why was Uther being so lenient? He would never allow this to pass. What had he missed?_

* * *

"Idiot." Arthur whispers lowly into the raven’s ear as he twists his arm around his back, a smirk on his face. He holds his arm tightly but it's not enough to hurt the younger man, only to keep him in place.

“Prat." Merlin huffs out, struggling to get out of the Crown Prince’s grip. Arthur chuckles and lets him go, stepping backwards. Merlin sends him another glare as he walks back to the physicians chambers to do some chores and get a small amount of rest after their long journey from Nemeth. He doesn't notice the blond's soft smile that seems to hold an unexpected tenderness nor how his gaze lingers just a little too long on the raven. 

Arthur sighs, rubbing a hand over his face, staring at the place where Merlin had once stood. He tries to keep a blush off his face but it’s to no avail as he remembers the recent encounter. The closeness. The contact. The teasing tilt of sound in both of their voices. The touch and smell of Merlin’s black hair as it lolled against his neck. _Get a grip,_ a small, condescending voice—that sounded similar to his Father—whispered in his head, stopping his train of thought. The Crown Prince takes a step, then another, finally managing to get his legs to function as he walks to his chambers, thoughts swirling around his head like a whirlpool that he was slowly drowning in.

Morgana had observed them from a distance. They were so… so… devoted and hopelessly in love with each other… it made her crinkle up her face in disgust. _Especially_ Arthur. He looked like a lovesick puppy after Merlin had left. Lovey dovey affairs were _not_ her thing. It was rather sweet (?) though, she had to admit, they really did seem so head over heels for each other. (Even if they didn't always show it, which, 99% of the time they often _did,_ with their constant touching—there _always_ seemed to be a hand on the raven’s shoulder or his hair would be ruffled or really _any_ kind of small physical contact—and the odd insults that they threw at each other which appeared to be more like flirting.) Maybe in another world she could have seen herself being friends with them and supporting them… but not in here. Not while that _servant_ was meant to sit on **_her_ **throne.

She scoffs, walking to her chambers so that she could formulate a plan to take him down, just as she had done with Guinevere. One servant down and one more to go, Morgana thinks as she lets out a quiet cackle near her chambers.

* * *

While the King’s ward was off in her chambers, thinking up evil plans, the King’s son was having an internal crisis… of sorts. 

_Oh dear gods-_ the blond thinks as he paces around his chambers, boots squeaking on the newly washed floor that he just _knows_ that his ~~_gorgeous_~~ blue-eyed, clumsy, neckerchief-wearing ~~_friend that he might possibly be in love with_~~ manservant will chastise him for doing so. But, _oh gods, what is he supposed to do?_ _He dealt with swords and diplomacy and battle, not_ ** _feelings_** _._ Arthur pulls at his blond hair in frustration and confusion and everything else in between.

Why were feelings so complicated? Well, to be fair... it _had_ taken him several months to accept that he was absolutely smitten with the raven, even after Guinevere had outright asked him, or more accurately, told him that he had feelings for Merlin. Arthur lets out a long suffering groan as he stares at the closed wooden door in front of him, slowly sinking onto his mattress. What was he supposed to do now?? He couldn't just saunter up to him and say _'Hey, so I may be in love with you, let's run away together and live on a farm.'_ No, he couldn't say that at all. And, what if- what if, Arthur thought, this particular question being the one bugging him the most. _What if Merlin didn't reciprocate those feelings he had?_ What if he simply disregarded or even worse, laughed at him? The prince didn't know if he should take the risk. His mind was a flurry of thoughts and emotions and Merlin couldn't even help him out, no one could. 

_Except, maybe… Guinevere?_

That was it. She was the one who had helped him discover these feelings in the first place and now she was going to help him navigate them… or give it a try at least. With that knowledge, the blond stands up, determination burning in his eyes. Arthur strolls outside of the citadel and arrives at the lower town where he sees the blacksmith's forge and feels a sudden stab of guilt in his gut. Tom. He remembered the events clear as day and it changed Guinevere. He hated that. She's told him over and over again, that it wasn't his fault but he refuses to believe her because it _was_ his fault. He could have done something but _didn't_ and it hurts him a little each time as he approaches the forge. 

"Arthur."

The Crown Prince spins on his heel, surprised. 

Like a startled stoat, he might say if he was talking to Merlin during one of their daily hunting trips. He would often scare off all the game but Arthur barely cared anymore because the raven's goofy grin made him smile like the absolute idiot he was. And by the gods, that smile paired with cerulean blue eyes and the specks of gold within them, _that smile,_ well, it always managed to make him go all soft.

"Guinevere!"

Gwen smiles at him and ushers him inside. "Hello, sire, what can I do for you?"

The blond prince mutters something under his breath as he walks inside the maidservant’s house, a familiar sight.

Gwen quirks an eyebrow, confused. “Sorry, sire. Could you please repeat that?”

A pink flush crawls onto his face as Arthur averts his eyes to the ceiling or the floor while subconsciously rubbing the back of his neck and clearing his throat. “I need your help… with something.”

Gwen looks at him, urging him to go on as she is eager to hear what he has to say. They hadn’t talked in quite a while and though she was thankful that she wasn’t sentenced to death or banished from Camelot she had missed him a little. And the fact that she wanted to know what the spilled mead about Merlin was.

"With… expressing feelings.."

Gwen nods in excitement and her eyes shine with hope as she strains to hear the rest of what he has to say.

"For…" Arthur bites his lip, tasting blood. He winces at the dull throb of pain coming from the teared skin as he continues. "For… Merlin."

Gwen squeals as she gets up, wrapping the blond in a hug. Arthur stays frozen in the spot, slightly dumbfounded. The brunette shuffles back, beaming. "I'm so happy for you!"

When the Prince fails to respond, Gwen pats his shoulder comfortingly and sits down again, leaning on her elbows. "Okay, so, Morgana has often told me of how terrible you are with feelings and _well_ , I've seen that first hand, so… I'm obviously going to help you. Court him. In a secretive and subtle way though. Because, Arthur, you _barely_ know the meaning of subtle."

The blond stares at her and gapes. He's still trying to find a way to respond to what happened earlier and everything is just going way too fast, way too soon for him to comprehend properly.

Gwen continues rambling, not noticing the Crown Prince's current predicament. "Also do you know what's going on with Morgana? She's been so withdrawn recently, acting so differently then she normally does. I'm worried about her." The maidservant pauses to take a breath, a frown on her face as she mentioned her troubles with Morgana. However, it's gone like a flash of lightning and Arthur makes—or at least tries to make—a mental note to ask her more about it later. She was right, now that he thought more about it. Morgana _had_ been acting strangely in the last couple of weeks or so.

"Anyways," Gwen sighs, a smile lights up her face again as she squeezes his arm encouragingly. "I think that we should meet here at least once or twice a week at the stroke of midnight. To talk, so that you can tell me what you tried to do concerning your affections for Merlin during the day and so that I can give you advice on it because you might have ultimately failed. It sounds dangerous, I know, but since we can barely talk during the day anymore, except for official matters, then this is the way it has to be. Don't worry, I know how to do this without arousing suspicion, and we only have to be careful if we don't want to be caught. Leave the rest to me."

Arthur finally finds his voice after a long period of time and splutters. "Guinevere, do you not realize how dangerous this is? What if you get caught? I would _never_ forgive myself. Merlin would _never_ forgive me."

Gwen smiles. "Don't worry about it sire, I won't let that happen."

"Merlin must be a terrible influence on you."

"You could say that."

Arthur laughs lightly, suddenly heading for the door. "I should be going but… thank you, Guinevere. It really means a lot." He nods in goodbye and shuts the door behind him, walking back to the citadel to find his clumsy, raven-haired manservant. ~~And possibly give him a day off or shower him with gifts.~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay!!! I have decided to continue this :)) I hope you like it! I'm thinking of updating every two weeks because that gives me some time to work on this and make it good as well as focus on my schoolwork and exams. i really want to try to update more consistently in the future, its one of my goals. thank you for all the kudos and comments on the last chapter! <3
> 
> Thoughts, ideas and feedback is always welcomed!!
> 
>  **p.s.**  
>  i hope i didnt make uther or any of the other characters too ooc here?? anyways, im actually quite proud of this even though I was actually pretty nervous about posting it lol. some parts might seem a little choppy but thats just because everything felt a little wrong at first and i kind of lost my writing vibe for a bit but ive finally managed to come back and write (and edit) it in short chunks. so yeah, im pretty proud of it and i hope that you liked it! (if you don't then I'm sorry lmao)

**Author's Note:**

> Talk to me on tumblr or discord!
> 
> Tumblr: sunflowers-and-snowdrops  
> Discord: onthenextrocketshipformars#3212


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